Monday, October 9th, 2017
This week’s theme for the Flickr Macro Monday group is “Side Lit.” From this week’s instructions (from Steve Crawford):
This week’s theme is about technique rather than subject. We all know the importance of lighting in photography so this week we will have fun with side lighting. Side lighting creates drama by enhancing contrast and emphasizing texture and pattern. Specifically, for this week’s challenge, we are looking for hard key light oriented at right angles to your camera. Top/bottom/right/left – any side is fine as long as the light is directed toward your subject at 90-degrees to the direction your camera is pointed. Think first/third quarter moon phases – there is high contrast with one side far brighter than the other side and the craters casting distinct shadows.
Grab your fancy lighting gear if you have it but don’t worry if you don’t – fancy isn’t needed and flashlights work great. For more directional “harder” light you can make a “snoot” by rolling a piece of paper into a tube around your flashlight. A bright sunny day can also work if you take steps to keep too much light from reflecting back onto the dark side of your subject. There are numerous photo tutorials on the internet. Plug phrases like “photography hard light”, “photography side light” or “photography snoot” into your favorite search engine. It’s not a requirement for the theme but if you feel so inclined, please share your lighting setup in the description. #sidelit
Side Lit Shadows
It’s so fun creating art from the simplest objects. This is a fine-tooth comb, one of those little pocket combs that you see in a boy’s back pocket from the 50s. It comes in handy for untangling Anna’s hair or for teasing my own when I want a little more volume. Stand it up on its side, add a hard light source (this was from my iPhone’s flashlight), and voila! Art. This reminds me of musical strings like from a harp, piano, or guitar. I see music in this image.
Nikon D750 | 105mm | f/5 | 1/250 | ISO 2500
I had several really cool shots from this experimental set up. This was my alternate image. I asked my family which image was their favorite since I was having a hard time choosing, and votes were split right down the middle. I ended up choosing the other image because I liked the simplicity and composition just a little more than this one.
Nikon D750 | 105mm | f/5 | 1/250 | ISO 2500
Thanks for looking!
